Big
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.50 You Save: $1.48 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.35 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Big
Movie Review: A memorable, family-friendly cult comedy!
Summary: 5 Stars
The film that propelled Tom Hanks to superstar status, Big is one of the funniest and most friendly films to ever hit the big screen. Harboring its own unique charm, the movie wraps a unique and compelling storyline around a cast of likeable characters to create a film audiences will never forget. Director Penny Marshall became the first woman to direct a film grossing over one-hundred million dollars when Big was first released in 1988 (that's an actual Trivial Pursuit question I ran across that might come in handy someday)...
When a young suburban boy named Josh (David Moscow) attends a local carnival with his family, his young life is turned upside down when the girl he has a crush on is allowed on a rollercoaster while he learns that he is still too young. Distraught, the boy makes a wish on an antique magic wish arcade machine. He wishes he was big, and the machine spits out its answer on a small piece of cardboard, "Wish granted." Josh thinks nothing of the reply until he wakes up the next morning as an adult version of himself (Tom Hanks).
Run out of the house by his own mother, Josh turns to his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton) for help. But after convincing his friend, who's only ten-years-old himself, Billy can't provide much help except a small bit of cash and advice on getting a job. When Josh rents an apartment in New York City, Billy comes to visit him periodically. Playing guns in the toy store FAO Schwartz, the two run into MacMillan (Robert Loggia) founder of a toy manufacturer. MacMillan hits it off with Josh (the two men step dance a Chopin tune on a giant foot-operated piano in an extremely memorable and famous scene), and the toy titan immediately hires Josh to work for his company in the area of toy-related research.
Climbing the corporate totem pole at MacMillan because of his vast insight into the toy preferences of kids, Josh befriends Susan (Elizabeth Perkins), a top-level executive hoping to learn what makes Josh such a master of the boardroom. But Susan's pursuit of Josh is not looked upon favorably by her colleague Paul (John Heard) who's spent his entire career kissing up to MacMillan only to have the inexperienced Josh appear out of nowhere and become the boss's favorite. This conflict, coupled with the breakdown of Josh and Billy's relationship, causes the adult kid to wish he could be his young self once again...
One of the best scenes in the film is when Susan reveals to Josh that she can't believe she's considering sleeping over at his home. Josh replies by saying he does it all the time and gives her the option of the top or the bottom bunk! Hanks really comes off as a kid trapped in an adult's body, and that's why Big works so well. So well, in fact, that it became an instant comedy classic...
Prior to Sleepless In Seattle, Forrest Gump, and Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks took Hollywood by storm with his charming performance in this larger than life movie. Big is a feel-good comedy without any foul language, gratuitous violence, or endless explosions. It simply retells the timeless tale of a young boy who wishes he were grown and doing grown up things - only in this instance, the kid gets his wish. As one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1980s, Big is a definite must-see film. Don't hesitate to see it...
The DVD Report
Movie Review: "What's a marketing report?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Josh Baskin is a 13 year old boy (David Moscow), suffering from the inequities of being too young and small to have any control in his life. The girl he crushes on is dating a bigger, older boy and he can't even get on a carnival ride because he doesn't reach the minimum required height. He chances upon Zoltar, a spooky fortune telling machine, and impulsively wishes he were big. The wish is granted and Josh wakes up the next morning transformed into a 30 year old man (Tom Hanks).
But, to bastardize Stan Lee's famous line, with a "big" body comes big responsibility. Josh manages to luck into a highly ranked position at a toy company and even cluelessly ends up with a hot girlfriend (the very grown up Elizabeth Perkins). With only his 13 year-old best friend Billy as a confidant, Josh must navigate thru the minefield of burdens and hangups (eking out a livelihood, the pressure and jealousies in the work area, adult relationships, etc) normally associated with growing up. Josh, thru the course of the film, comes to realize he isn't ready to be a grown-up and that being a kid is actually a pretty cool thing to be. Now, if he could only find that dang fortune telling machine.
Tom Hanks delightfully channels his inner kid in this modern fairy tale. I really can't think of anyone else who could've been as convincing and charming as Hanks in portraying a grown-up with the mind of an adolescent. Elizabeth Perkins, as the very poised but baffled Susan Lawrence, effectively plays her role as initially calculating but, by the film's closing scenes, she'll end up tugging at your heartstrings. Robert Loggia, as Mr. MacMillan, the elderly but young-at-heart owner and head honcho of the MacMillan Toys Company, is disarming and infectious (in the good sense, not in the sense that he'll give you a disease). Everyone touts the "Chopsticks" scene with Loggia and Hanks as a classic standout of the film.
Big ties with A League of Their Own as Penny Marshall's best directing effort. There's a reason Big made Marshall the first female director to surpass $100 million in the box office. She not only elicits very nice performances from her cast but she also injects into her film wholesome humor and warmth, a tastefully done romantic arc, and an insightful perspective about what it's like to be mired in adulthood and how, sometimes, we grownups are all either just going thru the motions or taking life too seriously.
The only thing I found disquieting is the kidnapping subplot, which introduces a jarring element and clashes with the overall gentle tone of the film. The script handles it as discreetly and as "kid-gloves" as possible, but one can't help but empathize with the mostly off-screen grieving mother. And that's my only quibble.
If you enjoy this film, I recommend 13 Going on 30 (Jennifer Garner is almost as good as Hanks), if you haven't seen it yet. And if you like Elizabeth Perkins, check out the romantic comedy He Said, She Said, where Ms. Perkins has never been better.
Movie Review: Big: Growth is not Just a Physical Stage
Summary: 5 Stars
Every kid has dreams of what it would be like to grow up. Usually these thoughts revolve around the material things in life, most of which include adult-type possessions like money, girls, and cars. In director Penny Marshall's BIG, Tom Hanks gives an eminently believable performance as a 13 year old boy who makes the full circle from boy to man and back to boy. Although the audience has great fun with the many truly funny scenes, the real charm of the film is not the humor of a fish out of water but the growth of a boy who has a glimpse of what it is to be a man and yet can possess the wisdom to recognize that he is not ready to permanently stay an adult if it means losing the experience that should have accompanied that growth.The youth Josh Baskin (David Moscow) makes a wish to be an adult at one of those carny magic fortune teller machines. Right away the audience is swooped into one of two realms: the benign universe of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE or the more malignant one of the TWILIGHT ZONE where William Shatner is fed life- altering decisions by a machine that could be a clone of this one. But BIG is a sweet comedy and the audience can sense that there will indeed be comic complexities caused by Josh's getting his wish in a literal way that provides unexpected consequences.
Josh, now played by Tom Hanks, uses his charm, his youth, his zest for things juvenile to land an adult job. The core of the comedy revolves around a succession of scenes that requires a delicate balancing act for Hanks. He must try to act like an adult but still retain the mannerisms of a child. The best scenes in which he accomplishes this include the dancing on the piano scene with Robert Loggia and the more adult relationship he forges with Elizabeth Perkins, who falls for the child that she sees in the man. No one else in Hollywood could have pulled this off.
Josh builds a life as an adult. He has all the 'toys' that he thought all adults did, but inwardly his child rebels, causing him to want to experience life but not on the cheap. Experience, he learns, is dear, and it is not enough for others to give him credit for accomplishments that they presume is the result of a more natural emotional and physical accumulation of experience. Rather, he learns that life is sort of like those goofy electronic make-up-your-life-as-you-go toys that he developed as a marketing whiz. You can push a button and get the desired result, but once having done so, the reality on the screen does not match the reality in the heart. And for the young Josh or the old Josh or the audience, this is a very adult lesson indeed.
Movie Review: Tom Hanks' Best Role
Summary: 5 Stars
"Big" was made over 20 years ago in 1988. Tom Hanks was just the right age and perfect star for this role. It amazes me how well he interprets being a young boy in a man's 30 year old body. The young boy is named Josh Baskin (David Moskow), who has a crush on an older girl. While at an amusement park, he is stunned to learn she is dating a boy that is old enough to drive. He leaves her in line for a ride, as he is disqualified for being too short for the thrill ride on a roller coaster. Soon he makes a wish at a carnival "Magic Seer" machine. It is an old machine and the robot inside looks devilish with red flashing eyes. Josh wishes to only be "big" and receives a card from the machine saying his wish will be granted. He goes to sleep that night at home in a room shared with his baby sister and wakes up a grown man. He is astounded and frightened as well. When he tries to tell his mother he grew up overnight, she screams and becomes panicky - and thinks this man has stolen her boy.
Josh realizes he can't go back home until he returns to his normal size. So the next day he travels with his 12 year old friend with the mission to find the same machine that can fix his wish to be a boy again. Because of his youthful mind, he gets a job in a toy company and moves up fast as he knows what toys kids like, and what to make that will sell. He has to adjust to adult ways, and Hanks plays the role to the hilt! Hanks, as Josh, also plays the best childlike romantic lead with a woman (Elizabeth Perkins - who looks like a young Judy Garland). I laughed as he tried to eat cocktail corn at a party. His apartment was nothing but a playground and the whole story was fresh and appealing. What fun to be young at heart and be paid for it. The movie is one of the most classy and appealing stories I have enjoyed.
This movie is a classy classic.
Movie Review: BIG is Tom Hanks at his best
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this movie (on VHS) since it was first released, and its on my Movies I Can't Stop Watching list. Tom Hanks portrays a 13 year old boy, Josh, who wakes up in the body of a 30 year old man after wishing he were bigger after not being allowed on a carnival ride and being made fun of by a taller boy. Although this theme is not unique, nobody but Tom Hanks ever gets it quite right. Hanks obviously has not forgotten what it's like to be an adolescent boy, and the results are hilarious! His reactions to adult situations (a really aweful tux at a formal party, making gagging noises and spitting out caviar, playing with all the buttons in the limousine, thinking his workmate just wants to SLEEP when she asks to stay overnight and innocently replying,"Well, ok, but I get to be on top" - meaning the top of his bunkbed) never fail to send me into fits of laughter. On the more serious side, Hanks also poignantly portrays the fear and loneliness of a young boy suddenly thrust into the hostile environment of a trashy hotel (the only place he could afford, with the help of his best friend), where sirens, gunshots, and fights are happening right outside his door. Jared Rushton is perfectly cast as his best friend, and gets a good laugh of his own when he screams his bloody head off when first approached by the adult Josh, thinking he's a pervert bent on doing him harm.Great for anybody who remembers what it's like to be a child in a hurry to get bigger, and even for those who don't.